Friday, June 26, 2015

This is the day that I have been waiting for. This is the day that makes every bad day worth it. This is the day that when I didn’t receive awards or win elections, I thought, all other things really don’t matter. It’s really the ruling on gay marriage that is important because it will change my life.
This is the day I have been waiting almost 40 years for. Mary Lou and I moved in together in 1976 and married legally in Canada in 2006, on our 30th anniversary. This is the day that our marriage is finally recognized in Texas, and in all of America.
This is the day that Mary Lou and I become eligible for the many rights most married Americans take for granted including social security benefits and being listed as spouse on each other’s death certificates. I know this may sound morbid, but I’ve heard too many times how devastating it can be to not even be recognized when a spouse dies.
This is the day I have been waiting for. My cousin Elissa remembers when I told her that I wanted my marriage to recognized somewhere in the world before I died.
I didn’t really think I’d see this day.
This is the day I have been waiting for. To no longer to be a second--class citizen in the land of my birth. To be legally connected to my in-laws. To be told no more, that my marriage doesn’t count. It makes all the work, all the activism, all the disappointments worth it. It makes me believe in America again.
This is the day I have been waiting for.

Profile

I am a Professor Emeritus at The University of Texas at San Antonio. I have been honored with the Illinois Master Teaching Award, the National-Louis University Outstanding Faculty Award (2001), and the University of Texas at San Antonio, College of Education Awards for Teaching Excellence for Tenured Faculty in 2007-2008, and the 2009 Presidential Award for Community Service. My work has been acknowledged by the 2009 National Council of Teachers of English Halle Award, the 2015 Outstanding Literacy Alumni Award from Northern Illinois University and the 2012 Headline Award for Excellence in Education. I am currently President-Elect for the The Whole Language Umbrella, an International Literacy Organization.
I am also the Director Emeritus of the San Antonio Writing Project. I've also published two books, Who's Invited to Share?: Using Literacy to Teach for Equity and Social Justice and Confronting Bullying: Literacy as a Tool for Character Education, both published by Heinemann. I have also published many scholarly articles.